Ultrafast Multispecies Gas Sensor for Combusting Flows

Spectroscopic measurement of gases in combustors is notoriously difficult due to constraints imposed by severe operating conditions, including high temperatures and pressures, vibration, soot, limited optical access, and acoustic noise. Nevertheless, these kinds of measurements can provide critical information on the combustion processes occurring and are critical toward understanding the chemical and fluid mechanical properties of advanced engines. Southwest Sciences, Inc., in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, propose to develop new methodology for measuring combustion mass fractions and temperatures at very high speeds for gas products produced in rotating detonation engines and other high temperature, high pressure flows.While laser-based sensors have proven quite useful in laboratory settings, for the present application of rotating detonation engines where operating pressures are so high, we believe that a simpler spectroscopic approach is required. Our innovation will meet the temperature, mass fraction and time response requirements of the Solicitation, yet be far simpler and less costly than traditional laser-based measurements. The Phase I research will address the critical design issues and demonstrate the viability of this approach.